Currently, client load balancing on an access point (“AP”) in a wireless network generally is based on the total load at the AP. Specifically, the amount of load on an AP may be determined based on the number of client devices and overall capacity of each AP in the network, as well as the airtime used by each client device, the client's health metric, type of client traffic (e.g., VoIP and/or video calls), etc. The client's health metric typically is a comparison of the client's actual physical layer rate to its theoretical capacity.
Nevertheless, a load balancing scheme based on the current criteria may still fail to move the client devices to the optimal AP in some scenarios. For example, consider an AP where a couple client devices are connected as well as a few WiFi phones. Based on the number or percentage of VoIP calls assigned at the AP, the AP may have reached its capacity for call admissions, and thus will be rejecting subsequent call requests received from the client devices. As a result, this will cause call failures for the client devices. However, the network infrastructure could have residual call capacity at a neighboring AP. Yet the network infrastructure would not move the client devices to the neighboring AP that is capable of admitting the call by the client device, because according to the current client balancing scheme, no threshold is reached (e.g., client health metric and radio load are both under threshold values). This is a typical use case scenario for hospitals and other environments where VoIP phones are widely used in addition to other WiFi® devices. Therefore, it is desirable to develop a comprehensive client balancing scheme that incorporates call admission control data.